Children in foster homes in the UK are up to 20 times more likely to get in trouble with the police according to The Howard League Penal Reform group.
Police in England and Wales have said they are being called to children’s homes more than five times a day.
The research showed of children in homes being wrongly criminalised due to “minor incidents that would never come to officers’ attention if they happened in family homes”, the charity commented.
In one example police were called to the home over a broken cup.
The Police have voiced their concerns that “private providers of children’s homes were using the police cells as respite to cover staff shortages and because staff were not trained and competent to deal with children’s behaviour”.
In the cases where children were arrested, they were left overnight as private care homes refused to take them back.
It is said that the staff are too quick to call the police for help with a situation that would be dealt within a family home.
The Independent Homes Association says that homes are “rigorously inspected” twice yearly, and staff are extremely well trained so any problems or issues within the homes would have been noted.
There were more than 5,000 children placed in children’s home in 2014, and the penal reform group said that the numbers going into homes are at their highest in 30 years.
“These children have been taken into care because they are in dire need and their parents cannot, or will not, look after them. Private companies, charities and local authorities that are paid a fortune by the taxpayer should give these children what they need and deserve.”
